NNPC towers
Does it mean the sense of shame has been completely lost in this
country by people holding positions of trust in and around government?
How do you reconcile that some highly-placed individuals can come out to
say there were no issues of contract awards raised by the Minister of
State Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, in his leaked memo to President Muhammadu
Buhari, who also doubles as the substantive Petroleum Minister? The
broad day lies being dangled by the government and its agents to change
the actual color and content of the leaked memo - is it not outright
corruption in itself?
If the arrangements previously referred to as Offshore Crude Oil
Processing Agreements (OPAs) and Crude-for-Products Exchange and now
known as Direct Sale-Direct Purchase Agreements (DSDP), are not
contracts for crude oil lifting in exchange for imported petrol and
diesel, what are they - cha cha (gambling) abi?
What exactly is transparent in a deal where crony local companies
obviously connected to politicians in the ruling party are paired with
multinationals simply to collect rent and share with political elites in
government?
Just see the fumbling of a mendacious bunch: Kachikwu, in his memo,
alleged that Baru awarded contracts worth about $25 billion without
recourse to the board, or Federal Executive Council (FEC).
Buhari ordered Baru to respond to Kachikwu’s allegations. The NNPC
boss, in his original response, did not deny awarding the controversial
oil contracts but rather insisted that he does not require Kachikwu’s
nor the board’s approvals to enter into such contracts which are part of
daily the running of the nation’s apex oil concern.
Spokesperson to the Vice President, Laolu Akande, either was pushed
or willingly accepted to announce that his boss, Prof. Osinbajo
actually approved two of the controversial oil contracts while the
president was attending to his ill health in London. The Vice President
came out few hours later to deny what his spokesperson said and
disclosed he never approved any oil contract but loans for Joint Venture
cash calls which is even an entirely different story and a discussion
for another day.
The last scene thus far was that the Presidency last Sunday,
totally dismissed reports that $25bn worth of oil contracts were awarded
by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), saying, “a
closer look at each of the said projects indicate clearly that these are
not procurement contracts.”
Is this story not becoming increasingly interesting? First version,
Buhari signed the contract while in London; second version, Osinbajo
signed the contract; latest version, Presidency says there is no
contract anywhere. Haba! How did we get to this point in the governance
of this country?
Even Baru admitted awarding the controversial contracts, while
Osinbajo clarified the role he played. So how come spin doctors are
coming to tell us there were no issues of contract awards with the
associated fraud and corruption thereof?
As my Warri people would say, Bros see explanation by the
Presidency: “When you look diligently at the referenced
projects/transactions one by one, you will see, as NNPC has shown, that
none of them was actually a procurement contract. Take the Crude Term
Contract and the Direct Sale, Direct Purchase (DSDP) agreements, for
instance, these are not procurement contracts involving the expenditure
of public funds. It is therefore wrong and misleading to refer to them
as though they’re contracts involving the expenditure of NNPC funds, or
public funds of any sort.” ‘Chai, who do Nigeria this’?
You see our country! So Kachikwu lied in his memo; Baru lied in his
initial response that Buhari approved with dates the contracts while in
bed in London; and the vice president through his spokesperson
initially lied or made a mistake in saying he approved two of the
contracts? Couldn’t it have been better if Nigerians were dished with
one turn-key corporate lie rather than these pockets of unintelligent
rations?
How could the presidency say there were no contracts procured by
NNPC based on the leaked memo by the Minister of State for Petroleum?
Saying that such impressions were maliciously created was an outright
insult to our sensibility as a nation. Did Osinbajo not read Kachikwu’s
letter with the itemized sub-headings under contracts? Was it
maliciously created by the press or the opposition? Was it not Kachikwu
who in his memo described these deals as contracts? So the minister does
not know what a contract is? How can you then turn around to say it was
maliciously created by the press and the opposition? The deals
highlighted under that heading, if they are not contracts, what are
they- cha-cha?
The fuel subsidy scam of the Jonathan era, were they not mostly
crude oil lifting deals similar to these ones by Baru? And you are
telling us these are not contracts. Any business transaction between
entities more especially the government is a contract because there are
contractual obligations to be fulfilled by the parties and
profits/benefits to be derived from such arrangements.
Ibe Kachikwu listed concerns up to the tune of $25 billion and the
only thing Baru and the Presidency could do is to paint a cover up. If
Osinbajo agreed that he signed for Baru some loan deals for joint
venture cash call obligation, how much exactly did he approved and what
percentage is the approved money (loans) in the $25 billion sum total of
the secret contracts? How much is the vice president’s approval
covering for these scams? As the VP has agreed he approved N640 billion
which is just about $2 billion for JV cash calls, who approved the
balance of over $23 billion for Baru and his NNPC?
Saying that these contracts are not about public funds is outright
rubbish. It is not about public funds, it is about deals that has
remained the drain pipe of the massive corruption in the NNPC and the
entire Nigerian oil sector. Does anybody get into a deal without
expecting to make profit and it is in these “profits” that our oil
monies have been stolen massively by those in and around government. So
by telling us that these deals are not paid for in cash is simply
insulting our intelligence.
A lot of these deals are paid for through crude oil liftings. You
ask a contractor to come and lift the oil equivalent of his money in the
deal, is the contractor going to discharge the oil in his recreational
swimming pool? Is he not going to sell the oil to make money to cover
his expenses and profits? Everything we call corruption in Nigeria come
from deals like this where people in and around government build-in
their criminal interests rather than our collect interests as a nation.
Meanwhile, the substantive minister of petroleum who should take
responsibility and account to us what really transpired has remained
dead silent on this matter.
It will shock Nigerians to know that what is involved in this
racket is over 600,000 barrels of crude oil on daily basis being picked
by international traders in exchange for imported petrol and diesel
alone. This is the same NNPC that wants us to believe that the nation’s
three and half refineries have been working at over 65 percent
cumulative capacity utilization.
Now that the bubble is bursting in the ongoing fraud, the NNPC has
come out to inform us that the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna
refineries have been shut down for Turn-Around-Maintenance. Has it ever
happened in this country that the three plants will be shut down at the
same day for TAM and does it even make a sound engineering management
sense? The truth is that the refineries were not working in the first
instance. That a plant is flamed -up like what Kaduna does daily does
not mean it is processing anything. Of course, how can our refineries
process anything when it is more lucrative in Nigeria to do deals and
collect rents. God help Nigeria!
***
Ifeanyi Izeze writes from Abuja. You can reach him at iizeze@yahoo.com.
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